


The Better Man

by fictionfinding



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Duelling, Fluff, Iris/Cor or Iris/Your Choice?, Kink Meme, M/M, Marriage Challenge, Post-Canon, There's Room For Either
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-08 18:28:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11652219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictionfinding/pseuds/fictionfinding
Summary: There are no exemptions to the traditional Amicitia marriage challenge, not even for blind bureaucrats.





	The Better Man

**Author's Note:**

> God knows why I keep gravitating to all these wedding themed prompts, but I do.

“You sure you really wanna do this, Iggy?” Prompto asked, his voice brimming with restiveness. “I mean, I love weddings as much as the next guy—more!—really, but have you maybe considered living in perpetual debauchery, or whatever it’s called? The non-traditional ‘we don’t need to get hitched, it’s good like this’ thing. Modern times! Open minds! All that?”

“I appreciate your confidence, Prompto,” Ignis said, adjusting the fastenings of his gloves.

“I don’t mean it like that!” Prompto said. “It’s just…y’know…like, you really don’t have to if you don’t wanna, right? How much of a difference will it make?” Ignis thought he heard Prompto add under his breath, “He’s so tall,” but Ignis elected to ignore it.

“It’ll give me some peace from my would-be husband,” Ignis said. “He’s been unbearably maudlin about the subject since the business with Iris. And since, he, of course, subjected her to such nonsense at the time, there’s no escaping it now. I must best him to wed him, or the moping will never cease.”

“That really doesn’t convince me you wanna do it. And if I were you, I totally wouldn’t.”

Ignis huffed at that. Ignis was misrepresenting things to a degree, but he couldn’t be expected to be as publicly and shamelessly sentimental as Gladio. He had a reputation to maintain.

“Really, you feel the need to run, I’ll cover, promise!” Prompto said, punching his arm.

“Your loyalty is admirable, but take me at my word when I say I am…amenable to the prospect.” Ignis said. Marriage may not have had its place in his current five year plan, but Gladio had been whispering excited and longing words of love and commitment and the terribly erotic ‘public record’ into his ears for the past several months and Ignis had to admit there was something nice to the thought—a thought that could perhaps be brought into action, notwithstanding certain difficulties.

“Meaning?” Prompto asked slyly. Oh, he was going to have him say it, one way or another.

“I should very much like to marry Gladio, end of story, is it time yet?” Ignis rushed out in one breath.

“Heh,” Prompto laughed self-assuredly, “We’ve gotta be out there in two minutes.”

“I hope he hasn’t invited the entire city guard.”

“If he didn’t, I’ll bet Cor did. Payback’s a bitch.”

“Indeed,” Ignis said, stretching his muscles to warm up a little.

“So, ignoring the odds for a moment, do I get to be the best man?” Prompto asked. “Just wanted to check, y’know?”

“Presuming I prove the better,” Ignis said, straightening up from his stretching, “I suppose you do.”

“Aw yeah! Now if you die, I’ll always carry that with me.”

“I can always change my mind.”

“I said nothing, and you will totally kick his ass,” Prompto said, “even if his muscles are ridiculous.”

“That’s better,” Ignis replied.

In precisely two minutes a bell went off in the adjacent gallery, to the cheers of a much larger crowd than Ignis would have liked (to be fair, Ignis would have preferred an officiator as the only audience). 

“Oh shit, it’s happening,” Prompto said, opening the door ahead of them, “Let’s go!”

They stepped out into the gallery where, by the sounds of it, the audience had gathered around the edges, leaving the vast amount of open floor in the centre as the space for their battle. Ignis used Prompto as a cue for where exactly he should come to a stop.

“Hey, Iggy,” he could hear Gladio’s voice carry across the room from where he stood.

“That’s all you have to say to me?” Ignis said as Prompto handed him a training polearm, wooden, rubber tipped and not likely to cause _too_ much damage to his opponent, unless he really meant it. 

“You look hot,” Gladio tried again. “Never get to see you in workout clothes anymore.”

Ignis sighed, removed his glasses, and turned to Prompto, “Remind me why this is a good idea again?”

“I keep saying it’s not!” Prompto said with a laugh, as he took the visor from him for safe keeping.

“Can it, Prompto!” Gladio called from across the room.

“How’s the turnabout feel?” Cor’s smug voice came from the middle of the room. He’d appointed himself the officiator of this affair and no one could really deny him the right.

Gladio clicked his teeth and didn’t say anything, but Ignis was almost certain he could feel the glower. He could definitely hear the swish as Gladio gave an anticipatory swing of his wooden broadsword. 

“Ignis, I’m rooting for you!” Iris called out from somewhere next to Gladio. She and her brother had made up over her own challenge after all was said and done, but she wasn’t above exacting vengeance. Ignis wished Gladio had not thought to be such an idiot about that.

A shout of, “Yeah, you can do it, Ignis!” and a few following cheers came from the audience and, alas, he realized some of his colleagues from the council had been invited as well. He even thought he might smell popcorn. Ignis consoled himself by thinking that at least the gathering was not too large and it seemed the press had mercifully been kept out. The last thing Ignis needed was an article in the lifestyle pages titled, “Outmoded Aristocrats Revive Antiquated Marriage Custom—With A Twist!”

“Gla-di-ooohhh,” came the chanting and stomping of others in response. Those were most definitely members of the guard.

“Seconds, clear the floor,” Cor announced, and the cheers died down. “That means you, Prompto,” Cor added after a moment.

“Oh, right!” Prompto said from where he was bouncing on his toes behind Ignis. “Just got excited! Sorry!” With a quick pat to Ignis’ shoulder, he made his way off to join the crowd.

With the floor cleared, Cor began his opening speech. “We are gathered here today to witness a match for the hand in marriage of the eldest of the Amicitia house in accordance with its ancient tradition. Would the challenger please step forward and make his pronouncement.”

Ignis did as instructed, counting the paces until he was near where Cor should be. “I, Ignis Scientia, hereby challenge Gladiolus Amicitia to a duel for his hand in marriage,” he said perfunctorily.

“Gladiolus Amicitia, step forward,” Cor said and Ignis clearly heard his bootfalls as he approached. “Do you accept the challenge?”

Ignis moved the polearm to his left hand and stretched out his right for a handshake. As expected Gladio took it. He less expectedly brought it up to his mouth to kiss it as he answered, “With everything that I am.” 

Ignis wasn’t sure whether it was the wolf-whistles from the crowd or the slap from Cor that led Gladio to drop his hand, but he had a good guess.

“Out of respect to the challenger,” Cor continued, “the officiator of this match requests the gallery remain silent until the match is called. And I mean it, boys,” Cor said, likely singling out a few of the guard with his trademark glare. At least he was going to have that, Ignis thought to himself as Cor spoke once more. “Men, turn your backs to each other and walk ten paces on my count.”

Ten paces later, Ignis was standing a good distance from Gladio, with nothing blocking their way as Cor retreated to the gallery. He was tenser than he could remember being in a long while. The passing of magic from their world meant the work Ignis had put in relearning how to fight was rendered moot to a large degree, no longer able to summon his daggers or spear without a second’s thought. If he lost hold of his weapon now, he wouldn’t get the chance to find it again, and he couldn’t rely on the throwing tricks he used to when he could summon his weapons back to hand after they connected with their target. Additionally, although Ignis kept fit, he’d had little combat practice since that time, with the daemons annihilated by the piercing light of the restored dawn. What would Noct think, to see them now, he wondered bittersweetly. 

There wasn’t much time to dwell on such memories, however. Ignis was out of practice and was going up against the former Shield and an active member of the City Guard, and it was in any Amicitia’s nature to take any fight quite seriously, however much defeat might be the desirable outcome. Gladio was not going to shame his house and embarrass himself in front of his friends by being dishonestly defeated in combat. 

Well, Ignis thought as he shifted his sparring weapon back to his dominant hand, just as well he had no intentions of being defeated today either. He might be at a disadvantage—much less bulky, out of practice, and missing one very crucial sense—but he was gifted with a great mind and if he could employ it properly, he would win the day. He already knew every sound and breath of his opponent by heart, if only he could predict Gladio’s actions accurately, he might be able to turn the tables and subdue him.

Cor’s voice rang out for the last time, as Ignis flexed his fingers around the polearm. “You may begin…now!”

Immediately, Ignis heard Gladio coming towards him in bounds. Gladio knew well Ignis would never take the offensive. Ignis’ best shot was keeping as far away as possible until he found an opening. Yet neither could he let the battle prolong, for Gladio’s endurance exceeded his own. 

He knew Gladio would expect him to evade backwards so he waited for precisely the right moment when he could hear Gladio’s boot fall at the most optimal distance from where Ignis was positioned before taking a short run towards him for momentum and leveraging his spear to flip himself and sail over Gladio. He then performed several spear-assisted back flips to get as far away as he could within the rough bounds of their arena. A gasp arose from the crowd as he executed his swift escape but fortunately they quietened down again. Any clamour stripped Ignis of his only useable sense in this situation.

Gladio had not yet followed him, staying in place where Ignis had been before, casually tapping his sword, probably against his shoulder if Ignis were to guess. “Can’t touch me if you’re all the way over there, Iggy. Why doncha come a little closer?” Gladio said.

“The challenged will refrain from flirting during the match,” Cor called out from the sidelines, accompanied by some tittering from the crowd. 

“Oh come on, man—” Gladio began to say and Ignis seized his chance to rapidly close the distance while Gladio was distracted by Cor. Naturally, Gladio’s instincts were better than that, however, and Gladio cut himself off midstream and refocused, ruining any chance of Ignis gaining the advantage in close quarters. Ignis knew he’d have to retreat again and shifted his momentum to vault sideways away from the oncoming collision. It didn’t pan out as he hoped, however, as Gladio’s sword struck flat against one of his legs and he fell to the ground mid-vault, hard. 

There was an audible “oof” from the crowd but Ignis had not even a second to spare attention to that. He rolled away immediately as Gladio’s blade whooshed down upon the spot where he’d fallen. Ignis let the length of his spear fly out and smack Gladio across the shins, but it did little to set his lover back. 

Gladio moved to try and straddle him while swinging his blade in a downward arc where Ignis was trapped on the ground. Ignis just managed to bring his spear up in both hands above his chest, catching the blow as it fell, although Ignis arms felt like jelly trying to resist the force of it. Before Gladio could react, Ignis scooted himself back an inch and raised both his feet to plant a hard kick to the inside of Gladio’s calves in attempt to knock his legs apart.

The ploy worked as Gladio had to drop his attack, falling down to one knee to avoid doing the splits. “Fuck, Iggy,” Ignis heard Gladio curse while he wiggled away, trying to get to his feet again so he could escape. Ignis was only half-way there when a hand seized his ankle. Without thinking, he shot straight up from the waist and head-butted Gladio in the face.

There was an echoing groan of pain from both of them, the collision brutal on both sides. Ignis was already regretting it, but it had temporarily freed him of Gladio’s hold and put Gladio on the defensive. Ignis seized the moment to hurl himself bodily at Gladio, knowing he’d only have one shot. Grappling with someone so far out of his weight class was asking to lose.

It didn’t shift him as much as Ignis would have liked, but Ignis used the force of it to reposition himself into a low crouch, back on his feet. Gladio, still on his knees reached behind him and grabbed onto one of Ignis’ arms but it was of little matter as Ignis found his opening in his standing advantage. Gladio intended to tug him down to the ground and flip him over onto his back with that motion. Ignis’ mind and feet were faster. As Gladio began to pull, Ignis moved to step on the back of his calves, using Gladio’s surprise and pain to tug his arm free and launch his whole body downwards on Gladio’s, bracing the impact with his free arm. Once Gladio was sprawled fully on the ground Ignis brought the spear into both hands and rapidly thrust it flat across Gladio’s shoulders, pinioning his arms on either side while Ignis’ lower body kept his legs in place. 

Gladio struggled mightily as Ignis held him down like that, putting all his force into it for as long as it took for Cor to announce, “And the victory goes to Ignis Scientia!” A rousing chorus of cheers followed.

Exhausted, he immediately moved off of Gladio, tired and disoriented even after so brief a fight. He could hear Gladio grunt and breathe heavily as he turned over onto his back. Ignis hoped he had not done too much damage to his body, or his pride. He found his answer soon enough for Ignis had barely made a movement to stand before was being pulled down on top of Gladio and kissed thoroughly and eagerly, to catcalls and gagging noises (and at least one “Save it for the wedding!”) from the crowd. Given the wetness Ignis now felt against his skin, it was possible one of them might even be bleeding from knocking heads earlier. Fortunately they didn’t need to do this ever again.

“I love you,” Gladio said as he pulled away, head resting back against the floor. Ignis could hear the smitten smile in his words. How grossly saccharine. 

Ignis did the only thing that could be done in such circumstances, and leaned back in to kiss the living daylights out of his fiancé.


End file.
